US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU440

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000440 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/SA 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
NSC FOR MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, SOCI, PGOV, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  MAOIST STUDENTS LOCK OUT UNIVERSITY 
ADMINISTRATORS 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 0217 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU) On March 9 members of the Maoist-affiliated All 
Nepal National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary 
(ANNISU-R) padlocked administrative offices at 25 branches of 
Tribhuvan University.  Maoist student leaders threaten that 
the lock-out will continue until the Government of Nepal 
(GON) meets their five demands, including the release of all 
Maoist student detainees in GON custody.  University 
officials, fearing violent retaliation, so far have not dared 
to defy the lock-out.  Student leaders aligned with 
mainstream parties have speculated that the lock-out is a 
ploy to disrupt campus elections that the ANNISU-R knows it 
cannot win.  The Maoists may be using their student wing as a 
way to increase direct pressure on the GON without 
"violating" the ceasefire.  End summary. 
 
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INDEFINITE LOCK-OUT 
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2.  (U) On March 9 members of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal 
National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) 
padlocked administrative offices at 25 branches of the 
government-run Tribhuvan University (TU) across the country, 
including in Kathmandu.  (Note:  There are a total of 195 TU 
campuses nationwide.  End note.)  The lock-out has not yet 
affected instruction, according to the Ministry of Education, 
and classes are proceeding as usual.  ANNISU-R threatened to 
continue the lock-out until the University and/or the 
Government of Nepal (GON) fulfills five demands:  a) 
off-cycle applications for admission for ANNISU-R members 
previously barred from enrolling; b) the postponement of 
student elections from February to April; c) medical 
treatment for all Maoist students injured in the insurgency; 
d) release of all Maoist student detainees; and e) 
publication of the names of Maoist students killed or 
detained during the insurgency. 
 
3.  (SBU)  According to Laba Tripathee, Joint Secretary for 
Educational Administration at the Education Ministry, TU 
officials had been in negotiations with ANNISU-R 
representatives throughout the last week of February in an 
effort to avert a strike.  In fact, he reported, university 
administrators had acquiesced in granting the first two 
demands (which fall under TU's purview), agreeing to special 
applications for admission from ANNISU-R activists, who had 
been "underground" during the regular application season, and 
postponing student body elections, originally scheduled for 
late February, until April 23 to allow ANNISU-R candidates 
time to prepare their campaigns.  The remaining three demands 
TU officials had referred to the GON.  While the GON had not 
yet committed to fulfilling those demands, Tripathee said, it 
is maintaining a "positive" and "flexible" outlook.  (Note: 
Since most Maoist fighters are believed to be under the age 
of 30, virtually any insurgent who had been injured, 
detained, or killed during the insurgency could qualify as 
one of the "Maoist students" cited by the ANNISU-R, making 
these demands especially burdensome to meet.  End note.)  TU 
officials had believed the negotiations were going well and 
were therefore perplexed, according to Tripathee, at the 
lock-out.  Fearing violent retaliation, no University 
administratiors so far have tried to break the locks and 
enter their offices, he said.  The GON, anxious that nothing 
undermine the January 29 ceasefire with Maoist insurgents, is 
trying hard to address the crisis, he said, adding that 
Narayan Singh Pun, Minister for Physical Planning and 
GON-appointed interlocutor with the Maoists, had offered to 
meet with ANNISU-R representatives. 
 
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OTHER STUDENTS' REACTIONS 
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4.  (SBU)  Student leaders aligned with most mainstream 
political parties do not support the lock-out.  Rajendra Rai, 
President of the All Nepal National Free Student Union, which 
is affiliated with the mainstream Communist Party of Nepal - 
United Marxist Leninist (UML), told us that while he 
sympathizes with the ANNISU-R's demands, he disagrees with 
their disruptive tactics.  Lock-outs interfere with students' 
education, he stated, and noted ANNISU-R's injustice in 
holding TU officials responsible for fulfilling demands that 
only the GON can meet.  Gururaj Ghimire, President of the 
Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students' Union, complained 
that his organization had been planning its own strike for 
March 13 to pressure university authorities to satisfy its 
own separate (seven-point) list of demands, but had been 
pre-empted by the ANNISU-R lock-out.  He claimed this 
suspicious  coincidence is "evidence" that the ANNISU-R, the 
GON, and TU officials are in collusion to prevent student 
body elections.  Both student leaders reported that the 
ANNISU-R, despite lobbying to postpone elections to allow its 
participation, had done little serious campaigning so far and 
had scant popular support.  They speculated that the ANNISU-R 
may have calculated that it could not win.  Rather than face 
defeat, the Maoist-affiliated union staged an indefinite 
lock-out as a way to postpone elections indefinitely. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5.  (SBU)  Meeting the ANNISU-R's blanket demands--especially 
its insistence that all "student" detainees be released--will 
be difficult for the GON, despite its desire to be 
"flexible."  The five-week ceasefire so far has been 
generally well observed--a fact cited by some observers as 
proof of the Maoists' sincerity this time in seeking a 
negotiated resolution.  The Maoist students' lock-out thus 
far has been peaceful and, since it has not yet disrupted 
classes, does not constitute a full-fledged strike.  Thus, 
according to some interpretations, the lock-out does not 
constitute a violation of the ceasefire.  Nonetheless, the 
action could be an attempt by the Maoist leadership, via its 
student surrogates, to maintain pressure on the GON by 
imposing on it an ever-expanding, constantly changing list of 
unrealistic demands. 
 
MALINOWSKI